


Stars Will Guide You Home

by Writeonthrough (Schroederplayspiano)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Gilmore Girls
Genre: AU, Crossover, F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-25 10:10:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6190846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schroederplayspiano/pseuds/Writeonthrough
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scientist Jemma Simmons is forced to return home to Stars Hollow after years away working for New York’s leading biochemistry company. Things grow increasingly complicated when she is assigned to work with her old flame (and former best friend), Leo Fitz…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ughfitz (wokemeup)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wokemeup/gifts).



> To My Dearest Partner in Crime, Racquel - aka: @ughfitz.
> 
> I couldn’t ask for a better FSWW partner. I know that’s a cliché and used more often than is true, but not here. You are the greatest partner a gal could possibly ask for. Every single crazy idea we’ve had, you’ve been the encouragement behind it and found a way to make it happen. 
> 
> So, thanks again, and enjoy some Rory/Jess + Fitzsimmons goodness!

Part One:

“I’m sorry,” Jemma Simmons pinched her thumb and index finger together and intentionally pointed it at her boss. “You want me to work with who? Where?”

Sarah Peterson flung her pen on her desk and leaned back in her office chair. “Come on, Dr. Simmons. This can’t come as a big surprise. From what I hear no one works together as well as the two of you. In fact, the rumor is that you guys are psychically linked.”

Jemma shifted the weight in her hips. “Well, that’s just absurd. If Leo Fitz and I were psychically linked, I would know he was back working in Stars Hollow.”

“Don’t rule out your connection just yet. From what I hear, he’s been in Stars Hollow less than twenty-four hours.” 

The buzz of New York City penetrated through the office skyscraper. Noises of taxi honks and subway tracks filled Jemma’s senses. She wasn’t sure if she was experiencing a dream or a nightmare, but it was hard to believe this was reality. 

So, she scoffed. “Fitz hates Stars Hollow. Hates it. There’s no way he would set up his engineering project there.” 

“He has, Dr. Simmons. I suggest you find a way to wrap you head around that fact quickly. He needs a biochemist to complete his work there and the company has decided it’s best if you go and work with him.” Sarah ruffled through some papers on her desk before finding a packet to hand to Jemma. “All of the information you need is in there. Close your mouth, Dr. Simmons, it’s a week’s project. If every single rumor I’ve heard about the two of you is false—which I sincerely doubt—you only have to tolerate the guy for one week.”

While Jemma manage to take the packet, closing her mouth seemed like a much greater challenge. Still unsure if this was reality or not, her feet seemed unable to move. 

“Time for you to go home to Stars Hollow, Simmons.” Sarah announced and then proceeded to lose all interest in her flabbergasted employee. “Get out of my sight.”

~*~*~  
“Mom…” Jemma dragged out her best friend’s name after she ordered the hands-free cell phone to call home from the the car.

“Jemma, is that you? Great. I have something to tell you…But first, remind me, which Planet Earth documentary did we like and which was the one we hated? Was it the BBC one or the one on the Discovery Channel.”

“We liked the the BBC version better.”

“Of course. And we add evidence to my theory that Britain does everything better—except for food. Luke now owes two free breakfasts and three cups of coffee.”

“That doesn’t come with the whole married-living together thing?”

“One would think, Jemma. One would think.” 

There was a silence on the line—which was rare for the mother and daughter pair who talked so quickly an outsider could easily assume they were talking over each other and rudely cutting the other off.

“Mom.” Jemma said the name harsher than she intended. “When were you going to tell me Fitz was back in town.”

Another moment’s silence passed. “Now. I was going to tell you now.”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “Mom…”

“I was, Jemma. Didn’t I start our conversation with, ‘Great. It’s Jemma. I have something to tell you.’”

“And what? You couldn’t have told me when Luke found out he was coming back into town?” 

“Luke didn’t know, hun. You know Fitz. He wanders in and out as he pleases. I found out at breakfast this morning at the Diner…I didn’t think it was pressing that I tell you seeing as you’re in New York and he’s staying in Luke’s old apartment above the Diner.”

“He’s staying above the Diner?!?” 

“Jemma.” Lorelei’s voice now filled with concern. “What’s wrong? What’s with the random interest in Fitz all of a sudden?” 

“I’ve been assigned to work with him again,” Jemma half-mumbled.

“What?” 

“More like ordered. I’m on my way back to Stars Hollow now to start working on the engineering project he’s doing there.”

Lorelei flung the Blu-rays she was holding on the table. “My baby’s coming home?” 

“To work with Fitz. On an engineering project. For a week.”

“For a week!” Lorelei quickly changed her tone to an overly dramatic and sarcastic one, “Oh, my, Jemma’s coming home for a whole week and I have to share her with Fitz. You know that boy’s been taking you from me little by little since you were fifteen years old. He’s been after my best friend title for years.” She playfully gritted her teeth. “Sooner or later, I. Will. Have. My. Vengeance.” 

“Thank you, Maximus.”

“I do what I can.” Lorelei dropped her shoulders. “When will you be home?” 

“Couple hours.” 

“Time enough to prepare your room, alert Miss Patty of your return, who will then, in turn, tell Taylor who will insist on throwing a carnival in your honor.”

“Mom—”

“You think I’m kidding, but you should know how this town works by now.” Lorelei placed a hand over her heart. “Did I not raise you right?”

Jemma ignored her mother’s dramatics. “I’ll see you soon?”

“I’ll see you soon, hun.” Lorelei released her heart.

~*~*~ 

Darkness covered the small town by the time Jemma drove through it. Starlight, which seemed to burn brighter now that she was away from the city’s bustle, was left to welcome her home as the town resident’s had all gone to bed. Funny, how quickly one forgot the oddities of Stars Hollow. Since it was passed ten o’clock, Jemma should have know she’d be the only out at this time of night. 

Something deep within her forced the steering wheel hard to the left. The blue Prius would have likely crashed into another car or another person if the town wasn’t so desolate. Two turns caused a stir-up of dust as she parked on the dirt. Suddenly, she was there—at their special bridge. 

The old wood rattled when she took her first steps onto it. The bridge itself was nothing special—fifteen feet across and five feet wide—it rested mere inches above the water. Still, the bridge held a special place in Jemma’s heart. 

She took off her heals and sat on the bridge’s edge, letting the cool water wash over her bare feet as she drowned in memories. The bridge held so many milestones for her. All of them inexplicably linked to Leo Fitz. They had looked through their first telescope on this bridge. Their first real fight happened as yelled at each other from one end of the bridge to the other—their first kiss, first date, first breakup, all happened a few feet from where Jemma sat now…

Her gaze drifted over their special spot and her heart pinched with regret.

“I had a feeling I might find you here.” 

Fitz’s voice, a sound she hadn’t heard for years, reverberated in her bones. She felt her lips upturn at his words and butterflies start to form within her stomach. 

Jemma nodded and focused her attention on the ripples the small brooke made, on the water weeds swaying between her toes, on her fingers she pressed together so she could prevent them from pushing her body up and enfolding her best friend into an embrace.

“Huh. I guess that psychic connection everyone talks about must still be intact, then.” Jemma spoke without thinking, immediately wishing she could take back the words.

Fitz scoffed. Jemma heard him shuffling behind her and before she knew it, the silent ripples increased as he dipped he feet in beside hers. 

He leaned his shoulder into her and she smiled, grateful for his playfulness. She couldn’t believe how easy it was for him—for both of them—to slip back into an ‘us’ again. 

He turned to her, waiting for her to meet his gaze. “It’s not our psychic connection, Jemma. That’s not how I knew you were here.” Fitz started seriously, and Jemma’s breath caught as she half-expected one of his heartfelt speeches. Instead, he turned from her, smirked, and gestured to her car. “I saw your blue hybrid sneak in, silent as ever, hoping to escape the gossip of this weird little town in the dead of night.” 

Jemma couldn’t hide her smile as she shook her head at him. “Oh, no, buddy. I was just hoping to put off our fateful reunion until tomorrow.”

“Hence your decision to come here.” Fitz turned serious again and he starred her down with his incredible blue eyes.

She gaped at him for a moment before realizing what she was doing and made a conscious decision to close her mouth. “You think you know me so well…”

“Jemma…” Fitz did everything he could to restrain himself from placing his palms on her cheeks and turning her face to his. “I know you better than I know myself. And you were right…” He paused for meaning. “We are still psychically linked. When I returned to Stars Hollow, this was the first place I stopped too.”

Jemma turned to face him anyway. Inches apart the couple searched each other; examining every small physical detail that had changed in their time apart. Their faces lost some of their roundness, their hair was shorter, and their eyes had grown older with the passing. The longer the moment lasted, the more Jemma yearned for Fitz to cup her cheeks and kiss her. 

“So, what do you think we should do about it?” 

Fitz’s chest clenched and he stilled. After a moment, it continued to rise and fall with his breath as he took in the possibilities of the moment. “For now,” he whispered, leaning back on his palms which rested behind him on the bridge’s planks. “Let’s just look up at the stars.”


	2. Part Two

“Mom!” Lorelei’s sleeping figure in Jemma’s twin bed made her halt in her room’s doorway. She released the tension in her shoulders she’d carried ever since she parted ways with Fitz on their bridge, causing her two bags on her shoulders to drop with a thud to the hardwood floor.

Lorelei startled at the noise. She twitched awake, but did nothing to change her position. If anything, she squished the pillows further around Jemma’s bed to make herself more comfortable. “Well, well, the prodigal daughter returns.” Lorelei turned to her daughter in the dark, barely able to see Jemma’s unimpressed expression. “And you’re late too, I might add. Where were your priorities? The town, Fitz, and then me?”

Jemma sunk half an inch when she kicked off her shoes. “It is the driving through town part that brings me to you.” As she approached the bed, Jemma motioned for Lorelei to scoot over. “You can hardly hold that against me.”

“Can’t I?” The mom shifted to the bed’s edge. She reached for Jemma’s elbow and pulled her down next to her. “And—How’s Fitz?”

Jemma searched her mom’s gaze and sighed. “He’s fine.”

“Benedict Arnold.” Lorelei scoffed.

“Benedict Arnold? Me?” Jemma still could show off the innocence face of her sixteen-year-old self despite the twelve years that had passed. “A little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“Never,” Lorelei replied, snuggling closer to her daughter’s arm. “Oh—and by the way, Fitz is not fine, as in ‘How are you?’ You meant, ‘fine,’ as in Simba has grown to resemble Mufasa and the change is making your little Einstein brain swirl.”

“My brain does not swirl.”

“That’s your first problem right there, my friend. Succumb to the feeling of seeing your long lost love—”

“Fitz is not my long lost love.”

“Not long lost—I’m sorry—recently reunited love.” Lorelei paused, waiting for Jemma to either refute or agree with her. When she stayed silent, Lorelei softened her voice. “How was it? Seeing him again?”

Jemma gave it a moment’s thought. “Confusing…Yet so simple.” She sunk down further into her childhood bed. “More like confusing because it was so simple.”

“Oh, hun.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she admitted.

Lorelei reached out to stroke her daughter’s brown, curly hair. “You and Fitz are going to figure out whether or not aliens have infiltrated Stars Hollow.” She cupped Jemma’s cheek. “Don’t make simple things confusing. You and Fitz will work things out. You always do.”

“Obviously, we don’t.”

“Keep it simple, Jemma. That’s all I can tell you.” Lorelei pushed herself up, preparing to join her sleeping husband upstairs. “As for the work—that’s the simple part. If you ask me, there’s no question whether or not there are aliens in Stars Hollow…I mean,” she couldn’t help smirking as she added emphasis, “Have you met Kirk?”

A shriek accompanied Lorelei’s squirming from the bed in effort to dodge her daughter’s playful slap.

“You’re horrible.” Jemma addressed the now standing Lorelei.

“It’s called Stars Hollow for a reason, right?”

“You mean, other then the legend of the two star crossed lovers who were to be forever separated until the cosmos led them both to this little town?”

“Huh. That doesn’t describe your situation with Fitz at all.”

Jemma let out an exasperated groan and grabbed a throw pillow at her feet.

“The cosmos is taking care of my little girl after all.” Lorelei tilted her head and placed a hand over her heart. “And here I was—so worried.”

Jemma threw the pillow at her mother. “Goodnight, Mom!”

Lorelei caught it and threw it right in her daughter’s face. “Breakfast at Luke’s at seven! Don’t be late!”

~*~*~

“It’s too early!” Lorelei complained to her daughter, who was dragging her across the town square. “Why would you wake me at 6:45 on a Saturday morning?”

Jemma gapped at her mother. “Uh, you were the one who said breakfast at seven. You said it in your perky-excited voice, might I add.”

“Ok, when I said breakfast at seven, I meant make sure we could have breakfast at seven, not for you to force me out of bed. Everyone knows my perky-excited voice is meant for the nighttime only, and not to be taken seriously the next morning…He’s not going to be up this early, Jemma.”

“What?” Luke’s Diner’s Saturday morning chaos was in full display through its large glass window. All the tables were occupied with customers, and Caesar and Luke both had to raise the plates they carried to avoid the ruckus.

“Fitz. The reason you haven’t taken your eyes off that window. He won’t be there. In my perkiness last night, I must have thought through it enough to remember Leo Fitz does not wake up early on Saturday mornings. Ever. Thus, I have at least one meal alone with my daughter before he whisks you off.”

Jemma stepped over the diner’s two short front steps. “That was when we were in high school, Mom. Must you always underestimate him?”

“I do no such thing!” Lorelei held the door open for her daughter. “One would have to be crazy to underestimate Leo Fitz.”

“Well, there’s no debate there.”

“You see?” Lorelei led Jemma passed the crowded tables, past Patty and Babette who fawned over Jemma’s reappearance in Stars Hollow, to the last two open spots at the counter.

Jemma took the stool at the end. “No, I meant there is debate over the fact that you are crazy.”

“Awk!” Lorelei barked. “I need some coffee.”

Luke appeared, coffee in hand, just as Lorelei uttered the last syllable. “Should I bother asking how many cups you’ve had this morning?”

“A husband should never ask that of his wife.”

“Ha.” Luke stared Lorelei down and absentmindedly reached for a coffee mug under the counter. “How many?”

“Does it matter?” Lorelei protested. “You’re already pouring me a cup.”

“This is only her second cup, Luke. Don’t worry.”

“Rory!” Luke blinked in disbelief over not seeing her before. “I didn’t know you were back home! Anything you want—on the house.”

“Sure,” Lorelei rolled her eyes as she took a sip of coffee. “Free food for the daughter, just not for the wife.”

“Hey!” Rory protested.

Luke came to her defense. He pointed at Rory, “She never eats here anymore. You eat here every damn day. If you ate for free, I’d go broke.”

“Don’t you mean, we’d go broke, honey?”

“No, honey.” Luke added emphasis on his last word, mocking her. “In this case I meant the Diner would go broke. I was not referring to you.” He continued to stare down his wife from the corner of his eye as a noise from behind distracted him.    
Leo Fitz had appeared at the bottom of the stairs, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Jemma straightened her posture. The four of the felt each out, having not been in the same room together for years, before speaking.

“Look Fitz,” Luke pointed again at his stepdaughter. “It’s Jemma.” Fitz blinked at her.

“Hi.” Fitz said to Jemma. 

“Hi.” Jemma said to Fitz.

“Hi.” Fitz repeated to Lorelei.

“Hi…” Lorelei said to Fitz.

“Hi.” Fitz said to Luke.

Luke scoffed. “Time to add another word.” He took out his pencil and paper. “What do you two geniuses want for breakfast?”

“Oh, I’m not hungry,” Fitz scooted out from the counter and back towards the staircase. Catching Jemma’s eye, he added, “I was going to get started on some work early.”

“You hate working early.” Luke shared.

“Nevertheless, Uncle Luke, today—I thought I would work early.” Fitz stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned back to Luke. “Is that going to be a problem for you?”

“No…Only—Take a muffin—” Luke then noticed the not-so-secret eye contact between Fitz and Jemma. “Or two—before you head back up.”

Fitz slogged back to the counter, and picked out two blueberry muffins (Jemma’s favorite). “Bye.” He said to Luke.

“Bye?” Luke said to Fitz.

“Bye.” Fitz said to Lorelei.

“Bye!” Lorelei said to Fitz, and he curved around the counter and rushed to climb the stairs two at a time.

“Mom—” Jemma started, gaze locked in Fitz’s direction.

Lorelei dropped her shoulders, rolled her eyes, and said, “Bye.”

Jemma addressed Luke. “Bye.”

“Bye?” Luke shook his baseball-hat-covered-head as both he and his wife watched Jemma follow Fitz up the stairs. “No—let me guess. Jemma and Fitz are Fitzsimmons once more.”

With her gaze still on the disappearing young couple, Lorelei waited until their footsteps faded. “I don’t know if they ever stopped.”

~*~*~

“Wow.” Jemma spun around the office-turned apartment-turned lab. “Look at this place.”

Fitz had teched-out the whole room. Jemma couldn’t help but feel like they were back in their old lab. The 60s apartment had been transformed into a modern masterpiece. Two rows of countertop workspace (one built for engineering work and one built for biochem work—which Jemma soon put together), plus a computer workstation somehow fit into the tiny space. Jemma ran her hands over the pristine green-blue glass.

“I can’t believe you did all this.”

Jemma turned back in time to see Fitz shrug. “It’s not a big deal.” A smile cracked his serious response. “I had to do something while I waited for you to show up.”

“Waited for me to show up?” She surprised herself when she playfully reached for his crossed arms, resting her hands there. “You could have called, you know.”

It took effort for Fitz to pull his gaze from the touch he hadn’t felt in so long. “And what would I have said?” Their eyes found each other, surprising Jemma by how much emotion she saw in his. Her stomach lurched at his longing. “Hey Simmons, there might be aliens in Stars Hollow. Let’s forget all about our past and what happened between us so we can work together again.”

“Yes.” Jemma wondered if her eyes reflected his longing. “Only we couldn’t never forget our past—and I wouldn’t want to.”

“Really? Not even the part where I abandoned our dream to live in New York together?”

“Ugh, Fitz…” Her favorite expression slipped off Jemma’s tongue for the first time in five years and she released his arm. Stepping back from the heat of the moment. She went to examine his handiwork again, Jemma didn’t know if she was speaking more to herself or to Fitz. “You didn’t abandon anything. It was both of us…Life just happened. S.H.I.E.L.D. fell apart and you were recruited to one place and I to the another. We slipped into our old habits of not talking to each other. New York still exists, you know.”

Fitz stared at her, mesmerized. She spoke so eloquently now. Her soft tone only added to her wise words, making his responses feel woefully insufficient. “We might not have been talking, but that didn’t mean I didn’t miss you every day.” He watched Jemma’s lips part to speak, but knowing what she had to say, he pressed forward. “Jemma, there—there were so many times I thought of leaving everything to join you in New York, I—”

She turned back to him, “Why didn’t you?”

There was no judgement in her question. No sadness either. Her openness did nothing to assuage his guilt, however. “I don’t know, Jemma. I didn’t think you needed me there.”

“No. Uh- huh.” Jemma stood straighter and pointed at him. “You know I did. You said, just yesterday, that you know me better than I know myself.” She felt her forehead crease in agony. “Why? Why do you always sell yourself short? Why didn't you trust me when I said I needed you? I needed you there, Fitz!”

“You wanted me there, Jemma. There’s a difference! You didn’t need me. In fact, you thrived without me.” Fitz followed Jemma when she turned away from him, only losing eye contact for a moment. “And I’m glad you did. We couldn’t spend our whole lives following each other around—”

“Of course we could! That was our whole plan, remember?”

“Jemma—”

“No.” She waved him off. “Forget it. I don’t want to hear how you did the right thing or how I can’t see that you sacrificed your happiness for mine. I just—” Jemma lifted her hand to her forehead. “We should really get to work on this whole proving Kirk isn’t the only alien in Stars Hollow thing.”

Fitz did a double take. “The—what thing?”

“Not-nothing.” Jemma opened the second right hand drawer, which they had designated for eye ware years ago, and found the glasses she was expecting. She put them on as if they were her favorite pair from their S.H.I.E.LD. days. The lab he created became Jemma’s second home in seconds; she helped herself to stacks of research, shuffling through papers and equipment until she caught up to the progress he made.

“It looks like we need a water sample.” Jemma’s remarks broke their half hour silence.

“Ye-yeah.” It took a moment for Fitz to recall the research Jemma referred to. While he seemed to have managed convincing Jemma he was hard at work as well, the sting of their last conversation distracted him from concentrating. “Jemma…”

“Yeah?” With her back turned to him, she missed the yearning in his eyes. “Hey—you did some great research here, Fitz. Do you want to start at our bridge? That might be our best shot. It’s Stars Hollow’s most natural water source.”

 _Our bridge._ She said it so casually.

“That does make sense…” Fitz watched her crouch down and shove his research into her shoulder bag she had found on the floor.

“Great.” Fitz didn’t know to which Jemma had responded—going to their bridge or finding an empty bag.

Once she stood, she started rushing out the door. Her arm brushed passed him and he seized the opportunity—reaching for her hand and stopping her. “Jemma…”

She looked down at their joined hands. Her lips parted to ask him what he wanted, but before she could, she finally caught his expression.

“I didn’t sacrifice my happiness for yours. I wasn’t ready to move to New York with you and I should have been—and I’m sorry.”

Jemma squinted at him. “You should have been? What does that even mean?”

“You know I hate change, Jemma. That’s probably why we’re back working in Stars Hollows versus some other place—even though I do still hate it here,” he added, producing a small empathic scoff from Jemma. “I should have been less of a coward and put you first. Maybe if I did, you would have know I never stopped loving you.”

Jemma felt her head swirling and had no choice but to give in to its haze. “Fitz, I never stopped loving you.” Barely aware of her words or her actions Jemma tugged him closer.

They were in each other’s arms before either knew what was happening. Whether Fitz’s lips found Jemma’s or her lips captured his, it didn’t matter. Once their lips mingled together, they both knew they had returned home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Superirishbreakfasttea for being an awesome beta!! 
> 
> Kudos and comments are always welcome. I'm hang out on Tumblr as writeonthrough if you ever want to chat!
> 
> Much more Fitzsimmons moments in the final chapter xoxo


	3. Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy, Happy Birthday, Racquel! I hope you are having a wonderful day! May all your Fitzsimmons and Rory/Jess dreams come true!

Three Days Later:

STARS HOLLOW’S  
AGE OF ALIENS FESTIVAL

Jemma peaked down at the town square from their lab’s corner window to see Taylor instructing people how to raise the festival banner. “This is—”

Fitz walked up behind Jemma, placed his hands on her hips, and stretched out his neck to see. “Insane.”

Below the banner, Stars Hollow residents crossed the street dressed in green—some wearing headbands with extra eyes bouncing on their heads, others with hats with aliens on them or space hats made from tin foil. Kids carried stuffed green aliens. Instead of Stars Hollow’s seasonal decorations, strings of UFO lights twisted around lamp posts and the gazebo had somehow been turned into a spaceship.

“They do know we haven’t found conclusive evidence yet, right?” Jemma turned back to Fitz, not realizing how close their faces were, and her nose snuggled against his cheek. “Oh.” She bit her tongue to prevent herself from apologizing on instinct—because she didn’t actually regret her actions—and leaned in closer, letting her eyelashes brush over his skin.

“It’s Stars Hollow—so,” Fitz adjusted his grip on her hips. “I-I’m sure it doesn’t matter if there is conclusive evidence or not.” Jemma blinked, causing her eyelashes to bewitch Fitz further. “You know, I’m can’t help but be entertained by its madness,” he added with a smirk.

She didn’t return his smirk. Instead, she pulled away from him. “Entertained by its madness? Did you,” Jemma changed to a lighter, but more mocking tone. “By any chance, share our the premise of our project with some of our more gossipy residents?”

“I might’ve, you know,” Fitz shoved his hands in his pockets and raised his shoulders. “Confirmed there was a kernel of truth to the rumor of what work we were doing back in town.”

“Ugh, Fitz!” Jemma brought her hand to her forehead and spun away from him on the spot. Fitz took two steps to be face to face again. “After years of working for a spy agency, you know better than to talk about top-secret alien research!”

“Well, those years of keeping everything in took its toll on me.”

Fitz’s insinuation ended the couple’s bickering, at least for a moment. Jemma bit her lower lip to prevent her smile from widening. “So…what? What? Your new personal policy is to have everything out in the open? Say how you feel…what you want?”

“Yes.”

Jemma stepped backwards, further into their lab. Fitz followed her step by step. “I love you, Jemma.”

Jemma nodded. “Yeah—you know, the first time you said that to me was the day S.H.I.E.L.D. fell apart and we were off in our separate directions—”

Fitz’s regret echoed on his face. “I shouldn’t have done that—”

“Of course, I knew you loved me for about two years before you actually said it—”

“You know, Jemma,” Fitz’s eyebrows narrowed. “You could have said—”

“I did say it, Fitz! I told you I loved you on the phone, right before we lost signal contact while I was out in the field. I told you I wanted to live in New York with you before—”

“I do want to live in New York with you. I want to be with you, marry you and live in New York together.”

Jemma’s breath caught. There was silence in the apartment-turned-lab. Down below the theme from E.T. played in the town’s square. “You want to marry me?”

Fitz let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. His shoulders dropped. “Yes.”

The world swirled around Jemma. Or, maybe, her thoughts swirled around in her head. Either way, she couldn’t think straight. “Are you—is this your proposal to me?”

“What? No. Jemma…” Fitz reached for Jemma. He ran his fingertips down her arms, interlaced their fingers and scooted her a foot closer to him. “This is not my proposal to you. I am here, telling you what I want, telling you I am not leaving you ever again—that is, if you don’t want me to and you forgive me for being such a immature coward.”

Jemma knew her answer. Still, she took a moment to search his incredible blue eyes. They were full of promise, of sincerity, of love…“I never want to be without you, Fitz. You know that. I never did.” Fitz started to lean in, but Jemma pulled back—not because a kiss wasn’t what they both wanted, or needed—but because she had more to say. Since they both had waited too long to say everything they bottled up, Jemma knew stalling their kiss benefited them both. She raised her palms to his cheeks. “I want to marry you, too. Because I can’t be me without you. I can’t. All these years, it felt like half of me was missing. Dead. Lost. And I suffered from it. And my work suffered for it. And you know…Fitz, you know I love you and I forgive you. You’re not your seventeen-year-old self anymore. These last few days have shown me—”

Fitz couldn’t wait any longer. His lips captured hers within the second. He gathered her into him, pulling her to him from the small of her back; his fingers spread wide against it, feeling as much of her as possible. Fitz’s tight grip forced Jemma on her tiptoes. Her hands moved up his chest, stopping to feel his racing heartbeat, before stroking his facial hair.

Their last three days together caught them up on the kisses they had missed over the years. Despite all the forms they had taken—passionate kisses, desperate kisses, laughing kisses, quick and casual kisses—this one topped them all. It held the promise of the future. The knowledge of being the other’s second half. The feeling of completeness.

Minutes or half hours passed before they broke apart. Fitz reached up to run his fingers through her hair while she let out a small laugh.

“I hope you know,” Jemma started in a half-serious, half-jokingly manner. She adjusted her elbows so they rested on his shoulders. “That I do not plan on waiting long for your proposal. I mean, we only have a couple more days here, our work together—”

“Don’t worry. You won’t have to wait that long.” A wide smile broke out on Fitz’s face.

Jemma’s eyes sparkled. “Really?”

Fitz refused to lengthen their conversation on the subject. Instead, he turned Jemma around in his arms and led her to the window looking out on the alien-costumed-covered street. “I think we should stop hiding out in here.” He pressed a kiss to the curve of her neck. “And start seeing what all the fuss is about.” Another kiss to the same spot. When Jemma let out a small moan rather than any words in response, Fitz started making a trail of kisses over the length of her neck to her cheek bone. “What do you say? Hmm?”

She turned back to him. He raised his eyebrows in question. “I’d say we’d be crazy not to try to find some method in this madness.”

He ran his hands down her arms. When their fingers intertwined, Fitz started tugging her towards the door. With mischievous grins on their faces, he added, “That’s all I’m saying, partner. That’s all I’m saying.”

~*~*~

“Why haven’t you two geniuses tested Taylor for alien DNA yet?” Luke managed to complain to Fitz and Jemma before they had fully approached his burger stand in the middle of the Age of Aliens Festival.    
“Well,” The mere image of Luke making burgers with green food dye for the cheese and buns entertained Fitz more than Luke would have liked. Fitz continued with a smirk. “I voted we tested you…given that you’re making food for a town event voluntarily.”

Luke looked up at his nephew, who seemed would never fully grow out of his smart mouth. “I will have you know, mister, I now happily make food for all the town events—even our stupid town meetings.”

“Yes,” Fitz leaned on the table. “But that’s only since you’ve married the town’s best participant.”

Luke swallowed before redirecting his question to Jemma. “Given that this absurd festival is his idea—given that you two haven’t found concrete evidence yet, Jemma…” He pleaded with her. “I really think it’s a good idea.”

“We considered it, Luke, but he really isn’t showing any of the signs that he’s been affected.” Jemma’s genuine answer worked to counter Fitz’s ridicule. “You know he loves any excuse to put on one of these town festivals—So it’s not really out of character for him.”

“Then you’re not looking in the right places.” Luke retorted before turning his attention back to his green cheese, whose green food coloring was starting to run down on his grill. “I expected better work from the two of you.”

Fitz and Jemma both chuckled at Luke’s grumpiness—which did nothing to abate it. The only possible cure for it showed up right as Jemma started to wonder if it was more than coincidence that the oil spattering seemed to be aimed in Fitz’s direction.   
Lorelei bounced next to Luke—purposely knocking their shoulders together as she did so. “That green food dye adds something special to your fries. I might have start ordering it on non-alien infested days.”

Luke dropped his shoulders and shot his wife an exasperated look. “Alien infested days? This is not an alien infested day. I stand firm that aliens have not infested Stars Hollow until our two science geniuses have tested Taylor and found a positive.”

“And Kirk.” Lorelei tapped her finger relentlessly on Luke’s shoulder until he added Kirk to his list of townspeople needed to be checked for alien DNA.

Luke nodded. “Definitely Kirk.”

“Hate to break your bubble—” Jemma started.

“But Taylor and Kirk are acting completely normal.” Everyone looked at Fitz. “Normal for them. We’re looking for townspeople who are acting unlike themselves—”

“Or will be looking, once we find concrete evidence.” Jemma finished.

Lorelei’s eyes widened. “Or, maybe the aliens landed in Stars Hollow first. Maybe,” Lorelei started jumping in place. Her pokes to Luke’s shoulder resumed. “Taylor and Kirk were affected by alien DNA years ago. Maybe they’re one of the early inhumans.”

Fitz rolled his eyes at Lorelei. “Guys. That’s not—”

“Yeah. We promise you, Kirk and Taylor are not—”

“Hey!” Lorelei cut off her daughter before Fitz could finish Jemma’s sentence. “Daughter of mine. Love of my life. Fruit of my labor. You know better than to contradict one of my theories.”

Jemma tried hard to hide her smirk. Her feet shuffling on the grass seemed to suddenly take up her attention. Her mother was right. Jemma couldn’t deny Lorelei her fun, but she also couldn’t betrayal her own loyalties to science. “We should get on that, then. Right, Fitz?”

Fitz dropped an arm around her shoulder and directed Jemma away from Luke’s green burger stand. “We should. I’ll be sure Kirk and Taylor are the first two people we test.”

Their backs were to the married couple before either of them could respond. Lorelei watched as Jemma wrapped her arm around Fitz’s lower back and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Hey!” Lorelei called after them. It took a moment for them to hesitantly turn back. “Before you do something about Kirk and Taylor—Why don’t you guys work to kill this E.T. theme? I’m all for John Williams’ music and it might be some kind of crime to turn it off. But our very own E.T. Taylor over there has been playing it on a loop for hours.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure, Mom.” Jemma responded sarcastically. “Because Fitz’s engineering skills have often been mistaken for magic. Exposing his magical skills to take on Taylor is on the top of his priorities.” Once she finished, she turned back to Fitz and replaced her head on his shoulder.

“Muggles, inhumans, and wizards, oh my!” Lorelei called after them again. When they ignored her, she rose to her tiptoes and added, “I told you our town was called Stars Hollow for a reason!”

~*~*~

Two Days Later:

Eeriness seem to surround Jemma on the drive from her mother’s house to the town’s bridge. The gusts blew deserted green streamers down from lamp posts. Alien hats and headbands with eyeballs attached to springs glided across the now-dead main street. Jemma smirked at the mess that still filled the town square, noting that the Age of Aliens festival might have been one of the hardest festivals the town ever had to move past—knowing it would never happen again.

She turned a corner, approaching the bridge, relieved that Stars Hollow could stay as it was—her home, magical and charming and alien to the rest of the world in its own special way. Some things in life were better if they stayed constant, never changing in the ever-changing outside world.

Fitz made her feel like that. Her mom and Fitz and Stars Hollow: those three things in Jemma’s life never changed and could never change.

Jemma smiled to herself as she parked next to the bridge. She rushed to open the door and fling herself in Fitz’s arms—ready to start their new life together, but stopped herself. Only for a moment.

In the disquieting stillness, she could still hear the frogs croaking and the crickets chirping. Jemma looked back at her trunk—now overflowing with stuff from her old life and Fitz’s old life here. The last of her stuff that she always meant to bring down to the city, but never had the chance—or the occasion to gather together.

The sight of all of their stuff jammed together in her trunk and backseat made Jemma’s stomach erupt in butterflies again. It was either that or what waited for her on the bridge…and that life-changing prospect was enough to give any woman a case of the butterflies.

Mist surrounded the bridge. Jemma could hardly see to the other side as she approached it, but she didn’t need to. She saw the man and their telescope through the haze and her mind cleared at the sight.

Fitz looked up when he heard her heels on the bridge. “Hey, you.”

“Hey, yourself.” Jemma wore jeans and a nice flowing top for the occasion. Her stomach tightened when she noticed the color of his blue button down shirt brought out the color of his eyes in the moonlight.

Jemma leaned in for a quick kiss, and Fitz granted it willingly—prolonging it a little. When they parted, Fitz snuck his arm up Jemma’s back. “I am never letting you go again.”

“And I—” Jemma extended her arms over his shoulders and interlaced her fingers together. “Am never letting you let me go again.”

Fitz traced her bare arms with his fingers. “Good. I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Yeah?” She teased. “How so? Because I think the best way to do that if I ask you to marry me.”

“Oh-oo.” Fitz’s expression lit up. He continued to stroke her bare arms. “You want to ask me?”

“I’d be honored to ask you.”

“So,” Fitz brought his arms to Jemma’s lower back and pulled her closer. “Back together a week and we’re already getting engaged, huh?”

“Fitz.” Jemma said seriously and pulled back. “A day would have been fine. Back together a minute, an hour, a day, a week—once we were together, didn’t you know we would never be apart again?”

Fitz silently nodded. “I knew.”

“Good, because we—we are two people who can’t be separated. In our time apart…you have to know I was never separated from you. I take you with me—wherever I go. I would always rather take you physically than any other way, but I latch on to any part of you I can. Because I don’t seem to know which direction is north without knowing where you are first.”

“Marry me.” The words spilled out of Fitz.

“What?”

The couple stared at each other. Jemma’s gaze followed him downward as he lowered to one knee on the bridge. He brought out a ring that Jemma immediately recognized as his own design and handiwork and asked once again, “Will you marry me?”

In the moonlight, the contours on Jemma’s face played between the shadows. Fitz swore he saw her smirk, though. A deep, rosy blush followed. Jemma pushed her tongue in her cheek, forcing Fitz to wait a single second more for her answer.

“Of course I will, Fitz. All we had to do was ask.”

She had never seen Fitz grin that wide in his life. He slid his beautiful ring on her finger, counting the seconds until his lips could capture hers for the kiss that would start their new life together.

The stars twinkled above them as they embraced. The mist and fog twirled around them, Jemma and Fitz in the center of a calming storm.

Seconds, minutes, hours—time lost all meaning to Fitz and Jemma once they started down the path of being together forever. Whether they stayed to watch the sunrise on their bridge or they made it back in time to watch it from Jemma’s New York home, it didn’t matter.

It only mattered that they would never miss another sunrise without each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sunrises and happy endings are all I choose to believe are in Fitz and Jemma's, and Rory and Jess' future! Thank you to those who followed this story to its end and left kudos and comments. Big hugs! 
> 
> Thanks again to Superirishbreakfasttea for being an awesome beta!!
> 
> Kudos and comments are always welcome. I hang out on Tumblr as writeonthrough if you ever want to chat!


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